SusanEllen
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 24, 2004
[When I have Disney on the phone, either for information or to book a trip, I usually ask the CM helping me what his or her favorite restaurants are or whats new in the parks or what they think is too good to miss and they always answer with what certainly sounds like genuine enthusiasm and usually with good and useful ideas. Thats how I found out about the Cruzin California segway tour of DCA, the first I'd heard of segways at a Disneyland park. I might not have known to this day that they were there if that friendly CM hadnt taken an extra minute to talk with me. I knew a little about the EPCOT segway tour, but Id never gotten around to finding out how to book it. Then this spring I learned that segways were no longer just in EPCOT when I read about Joh and Garys segway adventure at Fort Wilderness (Fred, Wilma and Family Do Disney, Day 2, posted April 30th). Johs report was fresh on my mind when I called Disneyland to book the Walk in Walts Footsteps Tour and when the CM helping me responded to my question, Is there anything else we should do? by telling me about segways in DCA, it only took a quick call to Sharon and I was calling back to book Cruzin California.]
Wednesday morning we actually wanted to get up at 5:30. What would have been an ungodly hour for waking at home was just fine here because we had a brand new adventure ahead of us on this day--the before hours segway tour of Disneys California Adventure, Cruzin California. Sharon had said Yes! without hesitation when I called to ask if shed be interested in doing the tour. In fact, I think she answered before she was entirely clear on what a segway is, but once she knew she said Yes! Yes! YES! As for myself, I would have paid the money and carried the segway if Id had to just to be inside DCA three hours before opening. So we were up before sunrise in order to be dressed, out of the hotel, across Disneyland Drive, through the Grand Californian, to the far end of Downtown Disney, to the Guest Services window (next to the Disneyland gates) by 7:00 to get our Cruzin California tickets and we couldnt be late. It would have been far less worrisome if we could have gotten the tickets when we were at Disneyland the day before and spared ourselves the mad dash at the crack of dawn, but the rule for Cruzin California is that tickets cant be picked up until the morning of the tour. Furthermore, the pick up had to be done in the fifteen minutes between the time Guest Services opened and the time we had to be at DCA to start our segway training. We got there just before the window opened and though there were a few other people in line ahead of us getting their special events tickets (though none for Cruzin) we were still able to make it across the plaza separating Disneyland and DCA to the tour meeting place next to the DCA gate by the 7:15 report time. We introduced ourselves to the two other guests already waiting there. (Im not sure how they got their tickets because they werent in line with us. Hmmm, I just realized that!). Our fellow tourists were Kim, a registered nurse (whose skills I thought might be handy if we needed some patching up before the end of the tour) and her strapping seventeen year old footballer grandson, Cody (who also might be handy if we needed help getting back on our feet after said patching up). We stood chatting until Jessica and Emily, the two CMs in charge of our tour, showed up and told us that there werent any other guests coming today and we could begin. We stowed our bags in lockers and then moved inside to a reception room for refreshments and the start of our training. It was obvious that the tour schedule was structured to accommodate far more than four peoplethe main clues being the enormous tray of fruit and giant muffins offered to us and the amount of time Jessica and Emily spent telling us personal stories about working for Disney and traveling Europe during their college years and seemingly anything else they could think of to tell us other than how to ride a segway. They clearly were vamping to consume some time. Because we would be zipping up and down streets and walkways where hundreds of people would be working to get the park ready for opening, it had to be important that groups of inexperienced segway riders be in certain areas at certain times so we wouldnt be in the way. If we finished our training sooner than planned, I can see that it might be a problem. When enough time had been killed the training began in earnest. The short orientation film was shown, questions were answered, and finally we stepped outside to begin the fun. We were told that before the group began the tour of the park we would have to practice the maneuvers they were going to teach us and then one by one we'd each have to demonstrate we could do them all. It only took a few minutes to feel at home on the segways and once we each had done the obligatory checklist of maneuvers we were off to explore early morning DCA. The trivia we were given along the tour was fairly common knowledge among Disneyphiles but it was fun to hear anyway. The best part of Cruzin Californiaother than the fun of riding the segwayswas watching the park being readied for guests. I saw a painter applying paint to a handrail that would be grabbed, held, and leaned on by countless guests entering Muppet Vision starting in less than two hours. When Jessica had a bit of trivia to relate she would give us a signal to pull over and once she stopped us a few yards from a construction team, a group of suits talking with guys in hardhats making notes on clipboards. Jessica cupped her ear and leaned toward them, then whispered to us that this was a Hardhat Alert. She told us that every time CMs in DCA saw a group like this they tried to hear as much as possible to learn about what was being added or dropped to the plans for the big makeover. We cruised in and out and around the Hollywood area, through Sunshine Plaza, into the Golden State where we circled Grizzly Peak and made our way through the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. We took a break in Paradise Pier at the McDonalds where we looked for the hidden Mickeys that were salted among the restaurants decorations. We zipped past all the rides on the Midway and got a look at the new Toy Story Midway Mania scheduled to open next weekafter were gone! Then it was on to A Bugs Land for a meander, then back to the Hollywood area where our tour began and ended. Would I do it again? In a minute! The backstage-before-the-park-opened part of the tour was everything I had hoped it would be and the segway riding was more fun than I imagined it could be. I missed my segway as soon as I stepped off of it. Cruzin California was understandably the more expensive of the two tours we did ($99), and even with the 20% discount we received for being Disney VISA card holders, it was a costly way to spend a few hoursbut we agreed it was worth every penny.
The tour ended at 10 (DCAs opening time) and we were walked to the gate to have our passes put through the machine so that we could officially be counted for the day. We picked up our bags, I changed into a cooler shirt and we headed for Soarin for a Fast Pass. The standby line was short so we pocketed the FPs for later and walked on the ride. We hated to stop for breakfast as this seemed an excellent time to take advantage of short lines, so we grabbed a perfectly acceptable park breakfast on the runa box of buttered popcorn for Sharon and caramel corn for meand race walked to the Tower of Terror. ToT Hollywood Hotel here doesnt have as much room for its courtyard as the one in WDW, but the real difference is to be experienced in the drops. Im not going to compare the two ToTs as I hope you get to try them both some day, if you havent already, and I think you should step into the elevator expecting what youve always gotten at WDW and then be surprised. Its not a case of one ToT being better than the other, they're just not exactly the same.
On our walk back up Hollywood Boulevard we stopped to listen to the Delta Daddy-os, a terrific a cappella group who had no trouble drawing a crowd.
Next we did Monsters Inc. Its a cute ride and such an improvement over Superstars Limo (that it replaced) that it looks brilliant in comparison.
Muppet Vision 3-D is the same show as at WDW though the façade is different.
Now seriously hungry after a very busy morning, we headed for Taste Pilot and a somewhat more substantial lunch than our popcorn breakfast. The food was just fine for a quick service meal, but we had the usual Taste Pilot problema shortage of places to sit. Finding no empty chairs inside, we stepped outside where we found a table in the shade. The table was large enough that we could offer to share it with a family of three who had no place to sit once all of the outside tables were taken. It isnt an American custom to share restaurant tables with strangers and thats kind of a shame. We had such a pleasant conversation with our lunch companions--a mom and dad and their eight year old sonon the first day of their first trip to Disneyland. They were from Hawaii and it occurred to me that though Ive met people from many US states in Disney parks, these were the first ever from Hawaii. It seemed just a little odd that people who live in a place that most of the world thinks of as a marvelous vacation destination, would leave their island paradise to go somewhere else for their holiday, but then I suppose they want to leave home for their vacation like the rest of us. They were charming people and they made our quick lunch more of an occasion. The mom was an elementary school teacher (I am, too.) Small world, isnt it?
Soarin is next door to Taste Pilot, so after lunch we took a few steps to our right with Fast Passes in hand and were on the ride in minutes. We had just enough time to make it to the next performance of Aladdin at the Hyperion Theater where we had preferred seating with our Disney Travel package. This is a great show without adding the disclaimer for a theme park show. The production values are the bestacting, music, sets, and special effects are Broadway show quality. The theater is a real theater. Its amazing to me that a show like this is essentially freeif youve got a ticket for the park, you can see this show.
The Animation Building is just down the street (Hollywood Boulevard) from the Hyperion Theater and our main reason for visiting there was to see Turtle Talk. Sharon hadnt seen this yet but shed read everything on the Disneyland website getting ready for this trip and so she knew that Crush interacted with the audience. Silly me, I started to explain about the instant animation software but she didnt want to hear a word of it. After a morning of backstage revealed on the segway tour, Sharon was ready to just be amazed. Good old Crush did his thing and she was truly amazed.
You can't tell how enormous the screens are in the lobby of the Animation Building in this shot. Take a look at the next picture and notice the size of the people below the screens.
Wed both seen the other parts of the Animation Building on previous visits so we went directly to the one that most interested usOff the Page, the animation store. After a quick look at the pretty things there, I left Sharon to choose the print of Beast she wanted (to be used in a process that creates something that looks very much like a painting on a stretched canvas when its all done) and headed across to Guest Services to pick up our tickets for tomorrows A Walk in Walts Footsteps tour and Friday nights Fantasmic Dessert buffet, which I was supposed to have been able to get when I picked up the Cruzin tickets. However, for some reason the Guest Services CM couldnt find our records on his computer this morning and of course, all the confirmation numbers for our paid reservations were safe in a folder back in the hotel room. I didnt want to risk being late for Cruzin so I left it for later to sort. Maybe 7 AM was too early for the computer (or for the CM) because this afternoon the reservations were found immediately and I had the tickets in mere minutesthat is, I did once I finally got to the window. There were three windows open but about thirty people ahead of me, so Sharon was left in Off the Page for nearly half an hour. When I got back there she had ordered her Beast print (reluctantly allowing them to keep Belle in the picture), bought two DVDs (one for me as a thank you for the Fantasmic Dessert buffet, a surprise shed only found out about when she got here), and had befriended two CMs whod apparently been talking with her the entire time I had been gone. One of them offered to apply her employee discount to a pricey figurine of Beast that Sharon had been thinking about buying and the other one said hed make Sharon a unique canvas print thingie from her own photo if she could snap one of the Beast in Disneyland. These were Cast Members at their most accommodating but I think they were going above and beyond their Disney training in response to Sharons enthusiasm.
We had just enough time to find a spot in Sunshine Plaza for the Pixar Play Parade.
Roz was the baton twirling majorette for the parade.
After the parade we crossed back to A Bugs Land to see Tough to Be a Bug, the same show as at WDW but, of course, here there is no Tree of Life above the theater.
We had been in DCA for ten and a half hours and in addition to the fabulous segway tour we had done everything we wanted to do in the front part of the park except the Grizzly River Run that we intended to save for another day. It was time to start toward DTD and Catal where we had a 6:30 seating.
Catal is on my favorites list, but another new place for Sharon. We'd arrived a little early but only had to wait a few minutes before being seated. We were offered upstairs, downstairs, inside or out. We chose the balcony, overlooking the DTD promenade, which seemed like a good idea at the time. It was warm there in the sun at first, but it became increasingly chilly as we felt the effect of the desert night air moving in as the sun dipped toward the horizon. We ordered our starter from the Tapas menu, empanadas made of Spanish cheeses, Yukon Gold potatoes and a salsa verde. Sharon ordered the swordfish that she declared was excellent. She also said, as she had last night at Hook's Pointe, that she couldn't believe she was getting food like this at Disneyland. I knew what she meant, because I remembered the days (and they weren't so long ago) when a Monte Cristo sandwich at the Blue Bayou was a peak dining experience at Disneyland. The short ribs I ordered at Catal that night were so very good and just entirely too much food for me to eat it all after the filing empanadas. Though it was unlike us, we skipped dessert. I can assure you, though, it was not because we were being dainty eaters.
Im afraid that I havent conveyed just how special this restaurant is and so Im referring you to Dan and Jackie Collisons blog at http://danandjackievideo.blogspot.com/ where you can find Dans elegantly written Catal review in the list of archived restaurant reviews on the home page.
Our itinerary for today included a tiny bit of parkhopping to watch the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks in Disneyland, but at nearly thirteen hours from the time wed left our hotel room this morning we were just too tired to consider it. We traded fireworks for a pass through the World of Disney store on the way back to the hotel, but a pass is really all it was as we were too tired to shopand that, my friends, is just TOO tired!
Day Four here: Day Four, June 12th
Wednesday morning we actually wanted to get up at 5:30. What would have been an ungodly hour for waking at home was just fine here because we had a brand new adventure ahead of us on this day--the before hours segway tour of Disneys California Adventure, Cruzin California. Sharon had said Yes! without hesitation when I called to ask if shed be interested in doing the tour. In fact, I think she answered before she was entirely clear on what a segway is, but once she knew she said Yes! Yes! YES! As for myself, I would have paid the money and carried the segway if Id had to just to be inside DCA three hours before opening. So we were up before sunrise in order to be dressed, out of the hotel, across Disneyland Drive, through the Grand Californian, to the far end of Downtown Disney, to the Guest Services window (next to the Disneyland gates) by 7:00 to get our Cruzin California tickets and we couldnt be late. It would have been far less worrisome if we could have gotten the tickets when we were at Disneyland the day before and spared ourselves the mad dash at the crack of dawn, but the rule for Cruzin California is that tickets cant be picked up until the morning of the tour. Furthermore, the pick up had to be done in the fifteen minutes between the time Guest Services opened and the time we had to be at DCA to start our segway training. We got there just before the window opened and though there were a few other people in line ahead of us getting their special events tickets (though none for Cruzin) we were still able to make it across the plaza separating Disneyland and DCA to the tour meeting place next to the DCA gate by the 7:15 report time. We introduced ourselves to the two other guests already waiting there. (Im not sure how they got their tickets because they werent in line with us. Hmmm, I just realized that!). Our fellow tourists were Kim, a registered nurse (whose skills I thought might be handy if we needed some patching up before the end of the tour) and her strapping seventeen year old footballer grandson, Cody (who also might be handy if we needed help getting back on our feet after said patching up). We stood chatting until Jessica and Emily, the two CMs in charge of our tour, showed up and told us that there werent any other guests coming today and we could begin. We stowed our bags in lockers and then moved inside to a reception room for refreshments and the start of our training. It was obvious that the tour schedule was structured to accommodate far more than four peoplethe main clues being the enormous tray of fruit and giant muffins offered to us and the amount of time Jessica and Emily spent telling us personal stories about working for Disney and traveling Europe during their college years and seemingly anything else they could think of to tell us other than how to ride a segway. They clearly were vamping to consume some time. Because we would be zipping up and down streets and walkways where hundreds of people would be working to get the park ready for opening, it had to be important that groups of inexperienced segway riders be in certain areas at certain times so we wouldnt be in the way. If we finished our training sooner than planned, I can see that it might be a problem. When enough time had been killed the training began in earnest. The short orientation film was shown, questions were answered, and finally we stepped outside to begin the fun. We were told that before the group began the tour of the park we would have to practice the maneuvers they were going to teach us and then one by one we'd each have to demonstrate we could do them all. It only took a few minutes to feel at home on the segways and once we each had done the obligatory checklist of maneuvers we were off to explore early morning DCA. The trivia we were given along the tour was fairly common knowledge among Disneyphiles but it was fun to hear anyway. The best part of Cruzin Californiaother than the fun of riding the segwayswas watching the park being readied for guests. I saw a painter applying paint to a handrail that would be grabbed, held, and leaned on by countless guests entering Muppet Vision starting in less than two hours. When Jessica had a bit of trivia to relate she would give us a signal to pull over and once she stopped us a few yards from a construction team, a group of suits talking with guys in hardhats making notes on clipboards. Jessica cupped her ear and leaned toward them, then whispered to us that this was a Hardhat Alert. She told us that every time CMs in DCA saw a group like this they tried to hear as much as possible to learn about what was being added or dropped to the plans for the big makeover. We cruised in and out and around the Hollywood area, through Sunshine Plaza, into the Golden State where we circled Grizzly Peak and made our way through the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. We took a break in Paradise Pier at the McDonalds where we looked for the hidden Mickeys that were salted among the restaurants decorations. We zipped past all the rides on the Midway and got a look at the new Toy Story Midway Mania scheduled to open next weekafter were gone! Then it was on to A Bugs Land for a meander, then back to the Hollywood area where our tour began and ended. Would I do it again? In a minute! The backstage-before-the-park-opened part of the tour was everything I had hoped it would be and the segway riding was more fun than I imagined it could be. I missed my segway as soon as I stepped off of it. Cruzin California was understandably the more expensive of the two tours we did ($99), and even with the 20% discount we received for being Disney VISA card holders, it was a costly way to spend a few hoursbut we agreed it was worth every penny.
The tour ended at 10 (DCAs opening time) and we were walked to the gate to have our passes put through the machine so that we could officially be counted for the day. We picked up our bags, I changed into a cooler shirt and we headed for Soarin for a Fast Pass. The standby line was short so we pocketed the FPs for later and walked on the ride. We hated to stop for breakfast as this seemed an excellent time to take advantage of short lines, so we grabbed a perfectly acceptable park breakfast on the runa box of buttered popcorn for Sharon and caramel corn for meand race walked to the Tower of Terror. ToT Hollywood Hotel here doesnt have as much room for its courtyard as the one in WDW, but the real difference is to be experienced in the drops. Im not going to compare the two ToTs as I hope you get to try them both some day, if you havent already, and I think you should step into the elevator expecting what youve always gotten at WDW and then be surprised. Its not a case of one ToT being better than the other, they're just not exactly the same.
On our walk back up Hollywood Boulevard we stopped to listen to the Delta Daddy-os, a terrific a cappella group who had no trouble drawing a crowd.
Next we did Monsters Inc. Its a cute ride and such an improvement over Superstars Limo (that it replaced) that it looks brilliant in comparison.
Muppet Vision 3-D is the same show as at WDW though the façade is different.
Now seriously hungry after a very busy morning, we headed for Taste Pilot and a somewhat more substantial lunch than our popcorn breakfast. The food was just fine for a quick service meal, but we had the usual Taste Pilot problema shortage of places to sit. Finding no empty chairs inside, we stepped outside where we found a table in the shade. The table was large enough that we could offer to share it with a family of three who had no place to sit once all of the outside tables were taken. It isnt an American custom to share restaurant tables with strangers and thats kind of a shame. We had such a pleasant conversation with our lunch companions--a mom and dad and their eight year old sonon the first day of their first trip to Disneyland. They were from Hawaii and it occurred to me that though Ive met people from many US states in Disney parks, these were the first ever from Hawaii. It seemed just a little odd that people who live in a place that most of the world thinks of as a marvelous vacation destination, would leave their island paradise to go somewhere else for their holiday, but then I suppose they want to leave home for their vacation like the rest of us. They were charming people and they made our quick lunch more of an occasion. The mom was an elementary school teacher (I am, too.) Small world, isnt it?
Soarin is next door to Taste Pilot, so after lunch we took a few steps to our right with Fast Passes in hand and were on the ride in minutes. We had just enough time to make it to the next performance of Aladdin at the Hyperion Theater where we had preferred seating with our Disney Travel package. This is a great show without adding the disclaimer for a theme park show. The production values are the bestacting, music, sets, and special effects are Broadway show quality. The theater is a real theater. Its amazing to me that a show like this is essentially freeif youve got a ticket for the park, you can see this show.
The Animation Building is just down the street (Hollywood Boulevard) from the Hyperion Theater and our main reason for visiting there was to see Turtle Talk. Sharon hadnt seen this yet but shed read everything on the Disneyland website getting ready for this trip and so she knew that Crush interacted with the audience. Silly me, I started to explain about the instant animation software but she didnt want to hear a word of it. After a morning of backstage revealed on the segway tour, Sharon was ready to just be amazed. Good old Crush did his thing and she was truly amazed.
You can't tell how enormous the screens are in the lobby of the Animation Building in this shot. Take a look at the next picture and notice the size of the people below the screens.
Wed both seen the other parts of the Animation Building on previous visits so we went directly to the one that most interested usOff the Page, the animation store. After a quick look at the pretty things there, I left Sharon to choose the print of Beast she wanted (to be used in a process that creates something that looks very much like a painting on a stretched canvas when its all done) and headed across to Guest Services to pick up our tickets for tomorrows A Walk in Walts Footsteps tour and Friday nights Fantasmic Dessert buffet, which I was supposed to have been able to get when I picked up the Cruzin tickets. However, for some reason the Guest Services CM couldnt find our records on his computer this morning and of course, all the confirmation numbers for our paid reservations were safe in a folder back in the hotel room. I didnt want to risk being late for Cruzin so I left it for later to sort. Maybe 7 AM was too early for the computer (or for the CM) because this afternoon the reservations were found immediately and I had the tickets in mere minutesthat is, I did once I finally got to the window. There were three windows open but about thirty people ahead of me, so Sharon was left in Off the Page for nearly half an hour. When I got back there she had ordered her Beast print (reluctantly allowing them to keep Belle in the picture), bought two DVDs (one for me as a thank you for the Fantasmic Dessert buffet, a surprise shed only found out about when she got here), and had befriended two CMs whod apparently been talking with her the entire time I had been gone. One of them offered to apply her employee discount to a pricey figurine of Beast that Sharon had been thinking about buying and the other one said hed make Sharon a unique canvas print thingie from her own photo if she could snap one of the Beast in Disneyland. These were Cast Members at their most accommodating but I think they were going above and beyond their Disney training in response to Sharons enthusiasm.
We had just enough time to find a spot in Sunshine Plaza for the Pixar Play Parade.
Roz was the baton twirling majorette for the parade.
After the parade we crossed back to A Bugs Land to see Tough to Be a Bug, the same show as at WDW but, of course, here there is no Tree of Life above the theater.
We had been in DCA for ten and a half hours and in addition to the fabulous segway tour we had done everything we wanted to do in the front part of the park except the Grizzly River Run that we intended to save for another day. It was time to start toward DTD and Catal where we had a 6:30 seating.
Catal is on my favorites list, but another new place for Sharon. We'd arrived a little early but only had to wait a few minutes before being seated. We were offered upstairs, downstairs, inside or out. We chose the balcony, overlooking the DTD promenade, which seemed like a good idea at the time. It was warm there in the sun at first, but it became increasingly chilly as we felt the effect of the desert night air moving in as the sun dipped toward the horizon. We ordered our starter from the Tapas menu, empanadas made of Spanish cheeses, Yukon Gold potatoes and a salsa verde. Sharon ordered the swordfish that she declared was excellent. She also said, as she had last night at Hook's Pointe, that she couldn't believe she was getting food like this at Disneyland. I knew what she meant, because I remembered the days (and they weren't so long ago) when a Monte Cristo sandwich at the Blue Bayou was a peak dining experience at Disneyland. The short ribs I ordered at Catal that night were so very good and just entirely too much food for me to eat it all after the filing empanadas. Though it was unlike us, we skipped dessert. I can assure you, though, it was not because we were being dainty eaters.
Im afraid that I havent conveyed just how special this restaurant is and so Im referring you to Dan and Jackie Collisons blog at http://danandjackievideo.blogspot.com/ where you can find Dans elegantly written Catal review in the list of archived restaurant reviews on the home page.
Our itinerary for today included a tiny bit of parkhopping to watch the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks in Disneyland, but at nearly thirteen hours from the time wed left our hotel room this morning we were just too tired to consider it. We traded fireworks for a pass through the World of Disney store on the way back to the hotel, but a pass is really all it was as we were too tired to shopand that, my friends, is just TOO tired!
Day Four here: Day Four, June 12th
The Roz float is fantastic!
